The Search
by TeenageWasteLand7
Summary: Frisk suddenly left 4 years ago, with a single note left on the counter that read "Don't look for me. I'll be back." That's enough to make any concerned friend worry, but as the friends get closer to the heart of the problem, they realize there's a much darker side to the surface. (Post-Pacifist Run - Modern AU - Female Frisk)
1. Teaser

**Constructive criticism and flames are helpful.**

* * *

 **10**

 **9**

She was always running. Running from the law, running from people who loved her . . . Running from herself.

 **8**

You would think by now she'd be used to running, she would be ready to dash at any moment. But no . . . she always tried to settle down each time, hoping beyond hope this time she could find some normalcy in her life. This city was where she could find a steady gig, she could learn her neighbors' names, make new friends . . . And each time she left she swore, never again.

 **7**

"What's the use if I'm leaving in a few days anyways?"

"Why should I even try?"

"I should just give up."

 **6**

That's when she listened to one of the many voicemails on her phone, and remembered the faces of her family and friends. That was what she was protecting. No, she couldn't, wouldn't give up now, not when she's made so much progress, sacrificed so much. It couldn't all be for nothing.

 **5**

Don't worry . . .

Deny yourself for just a bit longer . . .

They won't mind if you're gone . . .

You're so close . . .

 **4**

Lies she told herself so she could keep going.

 **3**

She had to keep moving.

 **2**

A pair of headlights flashed in the window.

 **1**

Guess time's up.

run.


	2. Heading Out

**Constructive criticism and flames are helpful.**

* * *

Frisk woke up to the sound of a car roaring down the street, closely followed by three high-pitched police sirens in pursuit. She sat up, gazing blankly at the wall in front of her before stretching up, cracking her neck and yawning. Slowly she swung her feet over the edge of the mattress and shuffled her socked feet towards the bathroom.

Sunlight was struggling to stream through the heavy curtains, but still illuminated the crazy number of dust particles in the air of the motel room. The kitchenette counter was a sickly green color, and the shower head sadly only gave out drips of reddish brown rust stained water. The stained, quilted bed sheets, yellowing seventies wallpaper, and smokey smell did nothing to help the dingy atmosphere of the place, and Frisk was dying to leave.

Refreshed, Frisk moved out of the bathroom and started packing the little she had hidden or stowed away. She had wanted to get an early start today, but instead of hitting the sack at eight like she planned, she had watched the news anchors drone on and on about a missing puppy or a celebrity's new affair before heading to bed around eleven thirty. Luckily the car chase outside had woken her up early enough to get in some good distance between here and her destination.

Frisk was headed towards the northern lakes and marshland, after hearing some rumors about the odd disturbances up that way. At first it was nothing strange, a few smaller cats and dogs went missing. Then some of the larger dogs. Then a few children. After Frisk heard that she had to go investigate for herself.

Zipping up her duffle bag and stuffing some last papers in her briefcase, Frisk threw on a black jacket and tied up her messy brown hair before grabbing her bags and lightly jogged down the stairs to the motel desk to check out.

* * *

Tossing her leg over the motorcycle, Frisk turned the key in the ignition, and revved the engine. Slipping her full face helmet over her head, she slowly backed out of the parking space and onto the two lane road.

For about seven hours, with an hour break for lunch and a nap and a few pit stops, Frisk drove on the northbound highway, and with each passing minute, the weather got colder and windier, until she didn't feel safe driving faster than twenty miles per hour. She pulled off the road, glancing quickly at the signs lining the sides of the smaller streets, searching for a small mom and pop motel, none of those big brand places. Frisk had learned long ago that not only were these places usually cleaner, but they usually had a small fairly secure server that was hard to trace, and no security cameras except in the office where the money was held. As long as she remembered to keep her head down when facing the camera, she would be fine.

Frisk pulled into a parking lot for "The Heights Motel" and parked her bike at the back of the lot. Just to be absolutely safe, Frisk took a moment sitting on her motorcycle to focus her magic. After concentrating it for a minute, she imagined it encasing her body, creating a full body mask, a glamour to trick the camera just in case she couldn't keep her head lowered.

Opening her eyes, Frisk inspected her face in the rear view mirror on her motorcycle to inspect for holes or mistakes in the spell. Now instead of a young brunette, there was a tall, lean blonde, with one conspicuous beauty mark high on her cheek, straddling the bike. Dismounting the vehicle, Frisk strode over to the entrance, but before she stepped in, she made note of the single security camera pointing from the clerk's side toward the customer and slightly lowered her head so the camera couldn't catch a clear shot of her face. Walking over to the desk, Frisk put on a tight grin, waving slightly at the teenage clerk.

"Hey! How much for one night?"

"Only $85."

"Great. Is the wifi included?"

"Yup." A lull in the conversation made Frisk look around the small office. There were a couple of rickety chairs against the window, and a few abstract paintings hanging on the wall, and light blue walls clashed with the dark orange carpet. Behind the desk, the clerk tapped away on a computer probably older than him, with too many food stains on the keyboard to be considered sanitary.

"Where you headed?" His sudden question snapped Frisk out of her reverie, and she quickly came up with some bogus backstory.

"Oh, wherever. Inherited some wanderlust from my father, so I take road trip every once in awhile."

"Cool." They lapsed back into silence, and this time Frisk turned towards the windows and leaned against the desk. Relaxing now that only the back of her head could be seen by the camera, Frisk let her mind wander once more to other places she had visited. As the ambassador, she had traveled to all sorts of countries trying to convince politicians that monsters were sentient, naturally good beings who happened to wield unimaginable power. Various scientists had wanted to conduct invasive tests on monsters, and some military tacticians had wanted to train them to become mindless killing machines, and it had taken years of talking and negotiation to get most nations to protect monsters equally under the law. Of course, there was no perfect solution to the problem. Though under the law monsters could be average citizens, humans everywhere were wary of the oddly shaped, often intimidating figures that had joined their neighborhoods. Over time most humans forgot about the differences between them and treated monsters as normal people, but there were still some monster-hate groups that liked to stir up some trouble every so often.

The clerk tapped Frisk's arm with her receipt and told her about some of the motel's general rules before giving her the key to room 4a and wishing her a good night. Frisk briskly walked to her bike, grabbed both her duffle bag and briefcase and climbed the stairs to her room. Turning the key in the lock, Frisk quickly closed the door, drew her heavy duty laptop out of the briefcase and set it on the coffee table in the corner. Throwing her duffle bag on the bed, she pulled a chair up to the tabled and started up the laptop. Though its exterior might have seemed ordinary, this was actually a highly advanced PC Alphys had put together just for Frisk. Its lightning fast processor allowed her to run several programs at once, and it was the only laptop Frisk had ever seen that could connect to both the surface internet and the underground's version of the world wide web. On top of this, Alphys had made the laptop basically impossible to trace through any means. After being targeted and attacked multiple times as the ambassador for monsters, Toriel had asked Alphys to protect Frisk from online threats through any means she saw fit. Both her cellphone and her laptop were taken into Alphy's lab where, after weeks of tinkering, both gadgets had come out ten times better than before.

After logging into her account, Frisk quickly hopped on the motel wifi and checked some more news outlets for any new information that might have been released about the missing children. Finding nothing of importance, she shut the laptop and shoved it back into the briefcase before flopping on the bed. The digital clock on the nightstand read seven thirty, but to Frisk it felt like midnight. Lethargically, she slowly kicked off her shoes, set the alarm for five forty five the next morning, and fell asleep on top of the covers.

Only 600 miles to go.

* * *

 **Story also on Archive of Our Own under same title and same username.**


	3. 4 Years Earlier

**Constructive criticism and flames are helpful.**

* * *

 **4 Years Earlier**

When Toriel came downstairs to make breakfast like usual, nothing seemed odd or different. After making some scrambled eggs and toast for Frisk and herself, she dished some up on Frisk's favorite plate, the one with tiny purple cartoon flowers around the edge, and set the plate on the counter, sweeping a small square note off by accident. Toriel hadn't noticed the unusual quiet in the house until the note quietly fluttered to the ground, touching down to the floor lightly. Usually by this time, Frisk could smell breakfast and was running around upstairs getting dressed and brushing her teeth, but there was no sound from the upstairs bedroom.

"Frisk!" Toriel called upstairs as she bent down to pick up the note, "Your breakfast will be cold if you don't get up soon!"

Without glancing at the paper, Toriel set it upon the counter and continued to set the table, placing forks on napkins, filling up cups of orange juice and adding more water to the vase of flowers on the dining room table.

There was still no sign or sound from Frisk, so Toriel climbed up the stairs and softly knocked on Frisk's door.

" _I told her not to stay up that late, but whatever she was rummaging around for must have been pretty important. She must not have gone to bed until past midnight."_

"Frisk," Toriel called softly, but there was no reply, not even a groan in acknowledgment or a yawn after just waking up.

"Frisk?" Toriel asked a bit more urgently. "I'm coming in now." Opening the door, Toriel waited a second for her eyes to adjust to the dim light, then scanned the bedroom. Usually Frisk kept her room neat and tidy, but as Toriel stepped into Frisk's room, she saw clothes strewn around the room, hanging off the bedpost, in a heap on the floor, falling off hangers in the closet. As Toriel, with mounting dread, stepped forward to get a better look into the room, something caught her eye. In the corner, a dresser usually covered in neat rows of picture frames was in disarray. Some photos had been swept side, while others had been knocked to the floor. One frame in particular was face down on the dresser, with its back and picture removed. Toriel lifted up the frame, recognizing it as Frisk's copy of the group photo taken during the monsters' first Christmas on the Surface. Toriel and Frisk had decorated the frame together with lots of glitter, stickers and small paper snowflakes around the edges.

Glancing around uneasily one final time, Toriel quickly left Frisk's room and checked the rest of the house before sitting down in the dining room shocked. Holding onto hope, Toriel pulled out her cellphone and shakily called Frisk. The call went straight to voicemail, but instead of an automated voice asking her to try again later, Toriel heard Frisk's own voice.

" . . . oh, did it start? Okay. If you're listening to this, I've decided to leave. I don't know of you've read the note in the kitchen yet but . . . I just . . ." — her voice cracking with emotion — "I just want you to know . . . how much I love you guys and . . . _*sob*_ . . . I'll miss you all . . . so much . . ." _*click*_

Toriel ran to the kitchen, desperate for an explanation why, why her baby had been taken from her, why another child had left prematurely. Snatching the note she quickly read it, then slowly sank to the floor, weeping, unable to keep her composure any longer. The message on the paper, cold and direct, read "Don't look for me. I'll be back"

* * *

 **Present Day**

Sans rummaged through the room, looking for any evidence left from its last resident but found nothing. No cleaners had come to the room yet, but there was hardly a fingerprint left on the doorknob. Frisk had gotten a good head start and lots of experience hiding after four years, but he was slowly catching up. Thinking aloud as he scoured the motel room, Sans pondered the question on everyone's mind.

"geez kid why'd you hafta up an' leave? what went wrong?"

* * *

 **Story also on Archive of Our Own under same title and username.**

 **Also vote on my profile if you think this story should be written in Sans' POV, Frisk's POV or half and half. Poll will be closed 5/27/16**


	4. Back on the Home Front

**A/N: So I have a lot of excuses and stuff, but no one wants to here that. You guys wanted Sans POV so I struggled through this. If anyone wants, I could use a beta reader for the Sans dialogue and general grammar. Please PM me or leave a comment if you're interested.**

 **Constructive** **criticism and Flames are helpful.**

* * *

Four years ago, Frisk had caused a state of emergency in the brand new monster country. Shops and homes had been frantically abandoned in the search for the missing child. Everyone searched for the Royal family's adopted daughter, and no one searched farther or longer than Frisk's closest group of friends. Undyne had scoured the whole mountain, Asgore lead search parties at the outskirts of the capital, Alphys and Mettaton had been been the central hub of information, monitoring communications and broadcasts in neighboring countries and doing their best to track Frisk's cellphone. On his show Mettaton announced progress with the search while simultaneously promoting himself and encouraged everyone to stay hopeful. Sans and Papyrus were asked to visit nearby cities to ask residents if Frisk had passed by. Toriel was distraught and would not be comforted. She locked herself in her house and refused to come out.

He should have been more careful.

* * *

6 years ago, Frisk had made an unaccompanied trip to the ocean for a week. Frisk had told everyone they were going to some teen conference to listen to many speakers talk about leadership. Everyone had assumed Frisk was going with someone from the group, though she never specified who she was traveling with. By the third day, everyone was driving around calling Frisk's name through the city, until Frisk had told Toriel she was at a beach motel. Sans had come to pick her up, and they drove home in silence. When they were nearly home, he turned to her.

"really scared everyone ya know."

". . . I know."

"why'd ya do it?"

". . . Dunno." Unfortunately she had picked up his habit to cryptically answer questions. He wasn't going to yell at her, she would get enough of a scolding from Toriel and everyone else. He just wanted to know the reasoning behind the sudden trip and the lies. More than anything else, the lies hurt the most. Like she couldn't trust them.

"welp. good luck then." He decided to drop the subject. Toriel would find out. She had perfected the 'mom stare' years ago, and now she got her way with everything.

Later that night, Sans was sitting in Toriel's kitchen while she put a pie in the oven. Baking helped calm her frazzled nerves after a stressful three days. After a tearful reunion, Frisk had gotten a severe scolding from Toriel, an eardrum bursting speech from Undyne, a rib crushing hug from Papyrus, a guilt trip from Alphys, a heavy pat on the head from Asgore, a bad pun from Sans and was sent to bed early. They were grounded for a month, and were to have mandatory adult supervision at all times. Frisk had taken it all, head hung low in regret, without a word of protest. Everyone was exhausted from searching and had left quickly afterwards to catch up on lost sleep. Sans had come back an hour later to talk with Toriel. She sat down at the kitchen table, took off her oven mitts, and sighed.

"This has been a long day. I'm glad Frisk is finally home, safe in their bed."

"yeah . . ." He waited a second before getting straight to the point. He didn't want to waste any of her time, she looked like she needed all the sleep she could get. "did Frisk tell you why she left? heh, i know sometimes a body just wants a break, but she didn't hafta lie if she just wanted to visit beach."

Toriel frowned, "I confess, I was wondering the same, but Frisk said nothing about the reason for her spontaneous trip. I'm so confused and worried, Sans. What if something like this happens again? Does she feel smothered? Is that why she left? Am I not giving her enough space? Do I need to let go? " She rested her head in the hands, hiding the tears slowly slipping from the sides of her eyes.

"of course not Tori. you're a wonderful mother and i'm sure this had nothing to do with you"

She sniffed, "I'm sorry. I'm so tired."

"eh, don't sweat it. everyone was shocked." He patted Toriel's arm before standing up. "better get going. pap can't sleep without a bedtime story, no matter how tired he is from runnin' round all day. get some sleep yourself, okay?" He quickly stepped back and warped home without waiting to hear her response.

He thought about Frisk's peculiar behavior. Frisk's silence was nothing new, she was never the chatty type, but usually she logically thought out situations, weighing consequences and benefits, before making any decision, big or small. But this time, she chose not to share her reasons. Was she unhappy? Was she tired of their company? Did she feel cramped in an all monster city?

As these thoughts ran around his skull, Sans read Papyrus a bedtime story, turned off the lights and tried to get some sleep.

* * *

Now an adult, the monsters had a much harder time finding Frisk. The rest of the world considered her a fully capable person who could make decisions for themselves, even though to monsters she was still a kid. Sans and Papyrus visited each building, showing hotel managers, shopkeepers, receptionists and pedestrians a picture of Frisk, asking if they had seen her. They all shook their heads, until one old man behind the desk at a gloomy motel squinted at it, tilted his head to the right, paused and shook his head. He searched for his glasses and eventually found them on his head. He slid them down his face, but once he focused on the picture, he nodded decisively.

"Yup. Saw her here couple days ago. Checked out yesterday. Asked her where she was headin' and she said somethin' 'bout goin' to Knoll, meetin' someone named Nicholai. Sounded really excited, but that's how young people are."

"thanks." He sped out the door, faster than he had ever bothered to move before, towing Papyrus by the wrist to his car. He quickly dialed Alphys and told Pap to speed home.

"we have a lead."

 **Story also on Archive of Our Own under the same title and username.**


	5. Heartbreak

**Constructive** **criticism and flames are helpful.**

* * *

Frisk never opened the inside pocket in her jacket. Inside lie her favorite family photo, the only thing that indicated Frisk had a people who cared for her. Ten years ago, when everyone had celebrated their first Christmas on the surface, Toriel had brought everyone together for a group photo. She had given a copy to everyone there, but afterwards, she gathered just Frisk's closest friends for another group picture. Toriel, Papyrus, Sans, Asgore, Alphys and Undyne. The only ones she could have trusted. But it was better this way.

As a car started up outside, Frisk looked up and carefully touched the inside pocket of her jacket. Time to go.

A minute later she stood outside the cramped hotel, trying to ignore the hookers and dealers glancing her way. She clutched her duffle a little tighter. The red light district in Kephalos has always been busy, but Frisk had hoped some of the activity would have died down now that it was past midnight. Walking to her motorcycle in a side alley, she started to put on her helmet and gloves when the mellow light from the streetlamp was blocked by a tall stocky man. Frisk froze and slowly glanced over her shoulder. There were four men, all solidly built, standing at the entrance to the alleyway. One had a baseball bat, and another had a shiv, but the other two were not visibly armed. Frisk swallowed nervously and pressed closer to her motorcycle.

"Hey girlie, what's a little thing like you doin' out so late? Mind if we join you?"

"Oh! No thanks I can take care of myself." She tried to be polite, but just in case, slid her hand into her back pocket, fingering her brass knuckles.

The man in the front chuckled, "That wasn't a request." They started advancing, and Frisk took a moment to slip the brass knuckles on her right hand and find a flash-bomb in her bag with her left.

She muttered, "You asked for it," before throwing the bomb to the ground in front of them, throwing her leg over the bike and starting the engine. Revving the engine once, she looked back at the group of men, all on their knees or leaning against a wall, and smirked before driving around them and into the street.

Kephalos had never been her favorite city. It always stank like garbage and urine, all the people were hostile, and the food barely edible, but it was the best place to lose her tail. The confusion of the city made it hard to find anyone, and since no one bothered with anyone else's business, Sans and Papyrus would have a really hard time finding a witness. Frisk hoped Sans wouldn't bring Papyrus, but they usually worked as a team. Monsters were tolerated in Kephalos, but Pap's naivety might get him into some trouble. ' _Sans can protect him'_ Frisk thought. Trying to push away the guilt, Frisk sped down the highway.

* * *

Frisk remembered the first time she was caught. A month after she had left, she was staying at some three star motel, enjoying the television when Papyrus had burst through the door, startling her. The motel manager had recognized Frisk as the ambassador to monsters that had recently gone missing and called New Capital to report her location. With tears in his eyes, Papyrus had swept up Frisk in his arms, babbling about how much she was missed and all the spaghetti that was awaiting her at home. Sans had come in seconds later, deep bags under his eyes, tiredly smiling, but still happy to see Frisk. Although initially startled and shocked, Frisk's face was now emotionless, not happy or displeased to see her friends. She didn't say a word to answer their questions, but allowed herself to be lead to the car and driven home.

At home, she had been welcomed with open arms and everyone celebrated the return of the royal child. Frisk still did not smile or grin, in fact she had a small frown on her face and refused to speak. Then the interrogation started. Frisk sat stiff as a board at the kitchen table with Toriel standing in front of her. Everyone else stood outside the kitchen listening in.

"Where were you going?"

"Nowhere."

"Really? But it looked like you were heading West."

". . ." Not even a twitch of her eyebrow gave away her emotions.

"What were you looking for in the West?"

Frisk shifts in the chair, getting more comfortable and completely ignoring Toriel's questions.

"Where did you get all of this money? What do you need it for?"

". . ."

"Have you been talking to someone? Were you going to meet them?"

". . ."

"Why do you have all these dangerous weapons with you my child? When you are with us there is no need to use these."

". . ."

"My child what could possibly be out there that you could not find here?"

". . ."

Toriel questioned Frisk for another twenty minutes before pulling out her trump card, the guilt trip. "We were all so scared Frisk, how could you just leave us like that?"

". . ." Frisk stared, almost unblinking, at the wall in front of her.

Slightly trembling, Toriel gave up and swept out of the kitchen, visibly upset. Alphys, concerned, murmured comfortingly to her and Asgore slid his heavy hand onto her shoulder, grounding her. She nodded her thanks to both and started breathing deeply. Meanwhile, Undyne decided to try her hand. She slammed down into the seat across from Frisk, and banged her hands against the table. She leaned forward, and it was obvious she was barely containing her fiery temper.

With an exaggerated smile, she asked, "So punk, why'd you run off like that?"

Frisk shrugged, nonchalant.

Undyne's grin waned. "Made it hard for us to find you nerd. What're you hiding?"

Frisk gave a short hum.

"Well then, why West? Somethin' special out there?"

Back to silence.

Undyne was frowning now, and slowly rising out of her chair. "Where were you headed Frisk?"

Frisk returned to absently gazing past Undyne.

Undyne gritted her teeth, raising her voice and getting closer to Frisk with every word. "This is important, Frisk. Where. Were. You. Going?"

Silence.

Undyne slammed her hands down on the table and stood up, "ANSWER ME PUNK!"

". . ." Frisk sat, oblivious to the intense atmosphere around her, barely giving signs she was still listening.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Undyne stormed out of the kitchen and started punching and kicking the walls, the couch, and eventually goes outside to throw spears at bushes.

Papyrus had thought about feeding the human spaghetti until they told everyone what was wrong, but Sans told him the Queen would not appreciate his efforts to make the human comfortable. Papyrus didn't understand. The small human was home now and everything was okay now, right? But inside the kitchen she sat alone at the table, everyone else murmuring to each other right outside. Only Toriel and Undyne had talked to the human so far, and Papyrus wanted to be next, but Sans kept stopping him, telling him this wasn't a happy meeting and Frisk needed to answer some questions first. Papyrus wished the small human would answer the questions faster so he could give them all the spaghetti they missed.

After a few minutes, Toriel had recomposed herself, walked into the kitchen again and sat down next to Frisk. Frisk didn't look over at their mother, but Toriel carefully studied their child looking for the slightest indication of emotion on their face. Toriel slowly sighed and softened her gaze. "Why are you doing this my child? What is wrong?"

For the first time that day, Frisk answered Toriel in a quiet, but hard voice. "Why does something have to be wrong?"

Tired and confused, Toriel asked, "Why else would you leave?

"Because everything was right."

Toriel gave another deep sigh and rests her arms on the table. "That makes no sense."

Frisk shrugged.

Toriel was getting more and more frustrated. If only Frisk would give them a straight answer. "My dear, we are trying to protect you. You're making this unnecessarily difficult. Can't you trust us?"

Frisk turned her head away from her mother and family, her gaze downcast.

With tears built up in her eyes, Toriel vented some of her frustration. "If you love us, why did you leave? If you don't trust us, why are you still here? How could you do something as selfish as disappear without a trace, only thinking for your own well being. Not thinking of the consequences, about the many others who love and care for you very much. If you're going to so inconsiderate, you should leave and never return, so we won't have to worry anymore." Tears spilled over onto her soft cheeks, staining them, as soft sobs broke the silence.

Frisk flinched, then sat up straight. Quietly, their voice slightly trembling, Frisk said "You know what Mom? You're right. I guess I'll be on my way."

Fluidly, she swept her things off the table into her duffel bag, and stood up. Slinging it over her shoulder, she swiped her metal briefcase from the doorway and stalks out into the hall. Everyone backed up to make room as Frisk swiftly glided to the front door, opening and closing it with a muted click. Toriel's subdued weeping was interrupted by the roaring of an engine as Frisk pulled out of the driveway as fast as she could before her tears fell. No one moved until the revs of the motorcycle couldn't be heard anymore. Suddenly there was a rush towards the Queen and a general panic. The rest of the day spent calming down everyone and planning how to break the news to the rest of the monster community.

* * *

After that first time Frisk had done everything in her power to fight anything and anyone trying to pull her back home. She'd had many close calls, but hadn't been back to the monster city ever since. She had a goal, a mission and even if her family didn't appreciate or understand it, she would fight them tooth and nail before she'd give up. Frisk's determination had always been a troubling thing. She just hoped she still had enough time.

 _50 miles_

* * *

 **Story also on Archive of Our Own under the same title and username.**


End file.
